


Broken Glass And Other Things

by headraline



Series: Nights to Remember [3]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Brotherly feels, Family Feels, Family-centric, Gen, Genji Shimada is a Little Shit, Hanzo is trying real hard, I'm sure he will get there eventually, Jesse is still pining, Platonic Affection, Reconciliation, Shimada bros learning to be bros again, Sibling telepathy unconfirmed, The pining is real, but he's also trying, but mostly brother-centric, mention of dark themes in the past, messed up shimada clan exploits, other characters mentioned in passing, with a splash of McHanzo pre-slash, yakuza past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-03-30 03:30:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19033876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/headraline/pseuds/headraline
Summary: For all their progress on the road to reconciliation, the brothers still move tentative steps around one another.But they are trying, and it counts for something -after all, rebuilding something that was broken starts with picking up the first piece.





	Broken Glass And Other Things

**Author's Note:**

> This has been in a draft for.... way too long.
> 
> I blame D:BH for becoming almost a full-time job in terms of writing, lmao.
> 
> Still, someone left a lovely comment on the Gravity series, and it spurred me to shake the dust off this and polish it a little. Not 100% happy with it, but oh, well.  
> I'm a sucker for family dynamics.  
> A lot of what goes down here (minus the being cyborgs and detaching limbs) is inspired by real-life situations between me and my sister.
> 
> I wasn't able to include something I used to do to my older sister back when I still lived in Italy -she would open her arms to me for a hug, which I would take, only to flop bonelessly in her arms and lean my entire weight on her.  
> She always told me "One of these days I'll let go and make you faceplant on the floor".  
> She never did.
> 
> If that's something that would amuse you as a Shimada bros prompt, let me know in the comments, and I'll see if I can cook up another oneshot for this series.
> 
> Oh and just for shits and giggles: the [soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss8t7a8n0U4) for this. Especially for the training exercise.  
> The lyrics are very appropriate for the brothers, imho -the song does not specify who it is for, and it can be interpreted as being dedicated to family.
> 
> .............damn it, now I miss my sister.

Things have been getting better between the Shimada brothers, despite the hardships of having to rebuild a relationship that was broken by attempted murder and ten years apart— there’s good days, bad days, and absolutely awful days… but they’re trying. Both of them, finally, on even ground.

With more conviction than ever before, Hanzo particularly tries. He had been reticent about recognizing the cyborg who called himself Genji as his in-the-not-quite-flesh brother, but looking at him now, it's obvious enough that Hanzo wonders how this creature could be anything but Genji. They're having dinner with some of the other agents; and the elder Shimada watches the cyborg with fascination: his sparrow has a way about him, even with his face covered by a visor, his presence demands attention, his posture shifts and moves and tilts, charming everyone around him and making himself the center of any and every scene.

Some things really never change. It's all it takes to pull a fond smile from Hanzo's mouth; and it takes all of three seconds for the cold fangs of guilt to clasp around his throat: you do not have a right to such fondness anymore.

_Unworthy._

_Traitor._

_Kinslayer._

 

The archer tries to rip himself from the train of thought, but it has seized him enough to bring memories to the forefront of his mind and overlap them with what he saw of Genji's face as it is now –the scars, burned and marred onto what was once the fair skin of the beauty no one in Hanamura could ever hope to resist... shallow as it may sound, Hanzo has been feeling guilty about _that_ as well, lately, since he was no longer allowed to feel guilt over killing someone who hasn't died.

On an occasion of drunken wallowing, he even found Genji and collapsed in his arms, apparently apologizing over and over for taking away Genji's looks –he looked so much like their mother, he had said, and Genji used to be so proud to be able to seduce anyone into doing literally anything for him.

"It's okay, anija." Genji had replied on such occasion, pouring him a glass of water and easing him into bed to sleep off the liquor, "I can still do that. Scars are sexy." He joked, but there had been a pang of both affection and pain in his voice.

It's true, Genji misses his boyish looks, but they would have given way to scars and age one way or another, and it's really not one of his priorities anymore –it took almost dying to make him grow up, but he did.

 

"Hanzo?" The cyborg's voice startles the archer back to the present, and he looks up.

"Yes, sparrow?"

Genji pauses slightly at that. Visor-less, since they were eating just now, it's even easier to recognize Genji's tells –the barely there twitch of lips, not quite a gasp but a close thing... the nickname has slipped out in public without Hanzo really thinking, and Genji is slightly taken aback. But before the archer can even start berating himself for taking such a liberty, Genji's mismatched lips break into a smile so radiant it's worth the smug look it comes with.

"I was wondering..." the younger of the two continues, trying but failing to contain a certain giddiness from his voice, "If you would join me for an emergency field ops training exercise."

Try as he might, Hanzo still hasn't gotten used to Genji actually taking training seriously. But it's given them something shared, to rebuild their interactions on, and his response is immediate: "Of course, Genji. Lead the way."

They dispose of their dishes and get going, reaching the close-combat training facility in silence.

"Athena." Genji calls upon the resident AI. "Would you please dim the lights and run simulation 109B?"

"Dim the lights?" Hanzo parrots, confused for a moment until a makeshift cover gets pushed in front of them, Genji lies down on his side behind it, propped up on his good elbow, and the training bots start shooting blanks in their general direction.

"The dimmed lights simulate unfavourable conditions, like cramped spaces or reduced visibility."

 _Or bullshit_ , Hanzo thinks. Genji hurt behind cover and surrounded by hostiles? This is first-aid training. His little brother wanted his eyes to adapt gradually to the extent of what exactly he had done.

Genji has always loved him more than he ever deserved.

"Genji..." Hanzo manages to choke out as he follows along and ducks behind cover as well, "Do you really think I should be entrusted with this?"

"Don't be ridiculous, anija. We have fought, but you never broke a promise." The cyborg rebukes, visor now in place and face unreadable, but fondness evident even in his modulated voice: "There's no one I would rather entrust this to, short of doctor Ziegler, who knows for obvious reasons, and master Zenyatta, who took care of my maintenance while I was in Nepal."

There's a million things Hanzo would want to say to that. A million more he probably _should_ say. What comes out instead is "Who else knows?"

It actually prompts a chuckle from Genji. "Well. Jesse had to learn some of the basics on the spot while we were in Blackwatch –we got in some quite tight situations. But my body has been heavily upgraded, his knowledge isn't 100% up to speed anymore... and I could really use someone else who knows what a _real_ emergency is and what it actually means to have to do whatever it takes." He explains, not without some self-consciousness, "Doctor Ziegler is an angel on and off the field but... true, intimate desperation and the need to do _anything it takes_ is not something most people can deal with, experience notwithstanding."

Hanzo can relate. Scarily so. His limbs were mostly saved from their fight, but it stands to fact that his metal boots are not just fancy to look at and function as tutors for his otherwise marred and fragile legs. He wouldn't let just anyone know how to care for them. To his credit, he manages to keep the shaking to a minimum as he nods. "What do you need me to do?"

Genji squeezes one of Hanzo's hands with his good one. "You will learn how to open the latches in my armor, perform a diagnostic check and remove and reattach my limbs." He says, not enjoying at all the way all color drains from Hanzo's face but pressing on: "If I ever suffer an EMP blast powerful enough to fully compromise me, removing all possible appendages makes me both lighter to carry to safety and quicker to initialize vitals recovery."

"You can't ask me to _take you apart_ —" it's a weak protest and the archer knows it. It falls flat on his face anyway, when even through the visor his brother sounds wise and peaceful beyond his years:

"You will have to see how I am taken apart, in order to help put me back together."

“Sparrow, I—”

“It’s okay, Hanzo… remember the time I broke mother’s vase? The one with the blue, hand-painted flowers?”

He does remember. It happened when they were still little, much too little for the elders to have started wedging them apart, so Hanzo was firmly by Genji’s side and ready to take the fall for him, to _protect him_ like every big brother should… but Mother just shook her head, and spoke softly to them.

 

_«_ _It’s okay, my children. Sometimes things fall… and break. What makes the difference is whether you abandon them on the floor or stay to pick up the pieces._ _»_

Had he been a lesser man, the archer would have broken into sobs, if not for the simulation bots to increase fire on their cover –possibly a subtle prompt from Athena to _build the goddamn bridge and get over it_.

Hanzo takes a deep breath, and places his hands on the joint between Genji's chest and right shoulder.

The cyborg smirks underneath his visor. "I didn't even have to tell you where it is." He comments, "The release is pressure-operated, but you have to slide your fingers under the shoulder plate to properly press it."

The archer executes, watching with morbid fascination as the shoulder plate pops up and out, exposing the thick wires connecting the synthetic flesh to the shoulder socket.

"Now do the legs before you fully take that off."

Right. Diagnostics first, full disconnection later. Hanzo's breath is shaky as he tries not to see Genji's old body, destroyed and bloody after the twins went through him. The archer hovers his hands along his brother's frame, almost fearful, and once again doesn't need to see his face to know Genji's tells. The cyborg's stance stiffened ever so slightly, the synthetic muscles in his body tightening just like a flesh and blood one, and his shoulders hunch almost imperceptibly –for all his tall talk, Genji too is nervous about being vulnerable like this. It doesn't happen often, by his own admission.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Hanzo feels around the prosthetic leg until he finds  the latch in the thigh and the pressure release under the outer vent.

Idly, he notices: "You're not ticklish anymore."

Genji has the gall to chuckle. "Pressure sensors are accurate enough that they could make them that sensitive, but it didn't make sense to build a weapon with such vulnerability." An ugly coil of horror grips Hanzo as the thought of Blackwatch considering Genji a _weapon_ rears its foul head. He can only be glad the new Overwatch is free of such constraints.

"That being said..." Genji continues, "I kept my upper body from the tailbone up, so tickle me in the side and I will reflex-kick you in the face."

It does manage to tear a chuckle from the archer's mouth. "Hence why I disconnect the legs before doing it."

"Anija—" for one moment, Genji seizes up, bracing for imminent torture via tickles, then sees the barely-there smile on Hanzo's face.

Threatening to tickle without actually doing it was one of Hanzo's favorite ways to scare him and then make him laugh even back when they were kids. "...oh _you didn't_!" He utters, between a whisper and a gasp, utterly incredulous at the first open display of mischief ever since they got reunited.

"I did." Hanzo whispers back, finding and releasing the locks on the second leg. "…just so."

p>The cyborg's voice is only slightly shaky as he parrots without thinking. "Just so..." he swallows beneath the visor and steadies his breath. "N-now, the button between my clavicles for quick diagnostics."

With the ligaments released, the usually glowing green lights of Genji's extremities have turned off, but the prompt for diagnostics will have them ping back on to perform a series of low-volume beeps indicating status and functionality. "Three short beeps for fine, two for damaged but ok, one long beep for disabled, four intermittent beeps for 'needs immediate attention/disposal'."

Hanzo listens for the beeps that at the moment indicate that Genji is in top condition, and releases a breath he didn't even realize he was holding.

It's hard to look at his brother's prone form and not see the bloodied night of ten years ago take place all over again, but the archer steels his expression and clenches his fists. _'I can do this.'_ He thinks, _'Genji deserves a lifeline on the battlefield, and deserves a brother he could place this trust in.'_

Unclenching his fists, he lets his hands travel back up Genji's right arm to his shoulder and open socket.

"Don't pull. Grab and twist."

The arm comes off and Hanzo has to take a moment when he hears his little brother grunt in pain at the nerve disconnection.

"There you go." Genji rasps out, and Hanzo instinctively grabs him by the shoulder as to comfort him –which seems to work, based on how much the cyborg leans into it. "Now, legs."

Nodding, the archer braces a hand against Genji's abdomen and grabs the right thigh first.

Trying to diffuse the solemn atmosphere a bit, the cyborg laughs mutely: "This is strangely intimate."

"What have I _always_ told you about making such statements while my hands are under your buttocks?"

“That I always had the better buttocks between the two of us?”

“ _Genji_!” Hanzo barely suppresses an exasperated sigh, snapping at his brother words he hadn’t said ever since they were teens: "Stop making it weird!"

"Aw, don't be such a prude, anija." Despite the protests, Genji knows Hanzo doesn't really care about having to touch his butt –he's had to physically haul in the shower drunk and/or hungover teenage Genji enough times to be immune to that sort of awkwardness; but he still reacts to his teasing and it's immensely fun to Genji. It's very likely that Hanzo lets himself take the bait exactly _because_ he knows it amuses his little sparrow and, despite everything, Hanzo has always indulged him whenever possible.

Still. Having his big brother literally take off his limbs for him _does_ feel like a whole new level of intimacy, familial as it may be; and Genji recoils slightly in spite of himself.

If Hanzo thinks anything of the involuntary reaction, he doesn't say.

Genji always has been a very physical person after all, in affections and rage alike. In their youth, up until they started to drift apart and even then, Genji had looked up to Hanzo a lot, whether the older knew it or not; he craved attention, so sparsely given due to the Elders pushing them apart, he needed constant reassurance, always wanting to be pet on the head and cuddled, demanding to sleep in _onii-chan's_ room because of one fear or another.

Coming to think of it, he was a real pain in the ass as a child. Either way it boils down to the fact that, while well-used to contact with strangers and lovers alike, every time Hanzo reaches out for him feels special, precious, because it's one more tassel in fixing the familial bond that had broken between them... which maybe kind of does make it weird; but hey, they haven't seen each other for ten years after very nearly _brutally murdering_ each other. The cyborg guesses they can take a few liberties with 'weird'.

Now that he is fully disconnected, Hanzo gets his mind back into the simulation and looks at him. "Now what?"

Athena lights up a destination point as the mission objective just as the younger answers: "Now you carry me to safety like the pretty goddamn princess I am."

"You do have mother's hips and waistline."

Genji dramatically gasps. "Anija, was that a joke during a simulation? _Shame on you_!"

The archer doesn't miss a beat as he slings Genji's good arm around his shoulders and loops his other one around his little brother's waist: "You're just a terrible influence on me."

Genji laughs, actually laughs, open-mouthed and sincere, as Hanzo heaves him from cover to cover towards the objective. "It's supposed to be the other way around!"

"Well, we missed out on that, didn't we?"

It's equal parts sorrowful and amused; and while it is probably in poor taste to joke about that while he holds the cyborg's limbless body, Genji still feels proud of Hanzo for having kept his dry and very dark humor.

A bot comes way too close to nicking Hanzo's leg as he sprints towards the objective, and the archer leaps the rest of the way, rolling with Genji into the highlighted blue square until they're lying side by side, one still missing three limbs and the other dishevelled and slightly out of breath from hauling his still heavy cyborg brother around.

"Simulation complete. Objective successfully secured. Time elapsed: 7 minutes and 44 seconds."

Hanzo knows it's a terrible time, but he eases himself knowing much of it was spent in stillness, gawking at the grim reality of Genji's body now and reconciling that with the old concept of his sparrow that the archer still had in the back of his mind –together with the knowledge that _he is responsible for this_.

Genji recognizes the far off look, and reaches his good hand out. "Hey." He calls, tapping the ground for attention, "You did good."

Hanzo takes the outstretched hand, stroking the back of it with his thumb. "Thank you, sparrow, but that was a horrible time and you know it."

"True." The cyborg concedes, "Which is why now you will put me back together and we'll go again over and over, until you can do this in 20 seconds flat."

"20 seconds?!"

Genji smirks. "You know, Jesse's best time back in the day was 24 seconds and a half."

Again, Hanzo gives in and rises to the bait, eyes shining of a mirth that hadn't been there for a long time. "Oh, you're _on_."

They go back to the starting point to retrieve and reconnect Genji's limbs, and keep practicing, as their voices can be heard by anyone passing just outside the training facility:

 

_"Hey watch it!"_

_"I thought you weren't ticklish anymore!"_

_"Yeah, in my artificial legs, the buttcheeks are still mine, you know?"_

 

Without context, it’s enough to make anyone do a double-take, but, knowing what he knows, Jesse simply tilts his head curiously to get a line of sight and silently cheer on Hanzo until he watches the older Shimada finally hit the 20-second mark on disassembling and disengaging.

He got absorbed into it enough that he reveals himself by slow-clapping in appreciation.

Hanzo is taken aback, while Genji only seems to only mind slightly, because of how exposed being without his limbs makes him feel. "Hey Jess! Guess what?"

McCree is already making his way into the training facility with nonchalance. "I saw that. Yer brother beat my time at _'build your own Ken doll'_."

Hanzo is still mostly facing Genji, but from the corner of his eye he can see McCree almost studying him. Considering the time it took for them to overcome their differences and stop being hypocrites about their own similarities, the archer does not blame him. For now, though, Hanzo just dutifully hands Genji his limbs back, to avoid making him feel so exposed for too long.

Not having received an answer, Jesse shrugs and continues: "Guess the best brother throne is once again occupied by the rightful owner, huh?"

A deep-rooted self-loathing in Hanzo screams that nothing that Genji gives him will ever be _'rightfully'_ his again; but forgiveness is Genji's to give and for him to humbly sit down and accept. He doesn't yet believe he will ever fully deserve it, but fighting for the right reasons is a start on moving towards being at least marginally better of a person. "I don't know about that, McCree." He utters instead, insecure about how much Genji could actually look up to him after everything he'd become.

"Naw, believe me, I was just warmin' the seat for ya." The cowboy insists while Genji is still busy getting the feeling back in his fingers and feet, "Look at that face and tell me he doesn't look happy as a goddamn clown."

Hanzo blinks –he knows Genji’s bodily tells well, but didn’t think Jesse would, too. "...he's still wearing the visor, Jesse."

"Well, yeah. But do you got any idea the dumb faces he makes behind that thing?"

That legitimately sends Genji into guffaws, much to the archer's amused exasperation.

"Are you quite done?" He asks the younger one, rising from where he was kneeling down, but the cyborg only raises his arms and open and closes his fists, like a petulant child wanting to be picked up.

"Carry me to my room?" He asks shamelessly, "C'mon anija, I'm sore from being dismantled and rebuilt over and over!"

Huffing to hide his smile, Hanzo makes a show of forcing himself to put up with it.

"Fine. I hope you know you're being a baby."

As one arm goes under Genji's armpits and the other hooks under the thighs, the archer heaves his brother to his chest without a problem, unaware of Jesse's low whistle and only slightly choked mutter of "Yer really strong..."

Hanzo never liked thinking about it, but despite Overwatch picking the lightest and best material, making Genji's body as fast and lightweight as possible with the most expensive tech, the young Shimada's weight still totals at around 200lbs. At the very least. He still carries Genji like he never stopped being a bratty 5 year-old.

McCree watches him go committing the sight to memory.

 

The rest of the Watchpoint doesn't know why, but things feel decidedly different the very next morning.

Jesse quietly exchanges a knowing look with the two, smiling at the vision that is the combined appearance of the two brothers chatting in animated Japanese with each other. The cowboy regrets not brushing up his Japanese, because something Genji just said is making Hanzo blush vividly enough to take twenty years off his face and make him look like a legit schoolboy.

They stop talking altogether as Hanzo almost angrily puts together the ingredients for miso and seems to have an entire conversation with the cyborg in just looks.

That's when it clicks for the table's other occupants: Hana, who was sleepily clutching a cup of coffee like her life depended on it, sits up straight and points: " _Sibling telepathy_!"

Lúcio jumps at the sudden noise, but does shift his attention to the brothers.

The two in question look like deer in headlights for a moment; and Hanzo breaks first. "What? There is no such thing."

Genji clears his voice and follows suit: "Doesn't that happen only to twins?"

"I hope not, I have two _dragon_ twins living in my arm, if they can conspire against me without my knowledge I am utterly fucked."

"Don't play coy, you two!" Hana protests, peeved at not being taken seriously and resuming her pointing when the brothers share another silent look. "See?! You're being all _complicit_ and shit!"

"We might be cheating." Hanzo says, with a secretive little smirk that does _things_ to Jesse's nether regions, "We could be talking through our dragons while no one else can hear."

"That so?" The cowboy asks, interest piqued by his Blackwatch side, "Would be useful in two-man jobs."

"Or more." Genji nods, "We don’t exactly _talk_ per se, but… Even if we are separated, anija will always know where I am."

The way Hanzo's gaze falls slightly tells everyone present that he too is very conscious of the obvious exception. Surprisingly enough, the archer himself diffuses: "Well, except from when I made a spectacularly stupid choice in life and Ame refused to acknowledge me _or_ the twins for nearly ten years."

Hana blinks. "Wait, who's Ame?"

Hanzo bites his lip as he turns to Genji with a clear look of _'your turn, I'm not ready for this'_. The cyborg obliges: "She's my dragon. Ame is short for 'Ramen'. The twins are called Udon and Soba."

The whole table is silent as the realization sinks in that the ever-so-serious and strict Hanzo Shimada named his dragons after _noodles_.

Sensing the disbelief, the archer clears his throat. "They manifested when we were children." Is all he offers in lieu of an explanation, and it's enough to send Hana and Lúcio into giggles, and even Jesse is discreetly trying to hide his chuckles. Hanzo shakes his head, but the curl of his lips betrays at least some amusement. "Well, that's enough embarrassment for one morning." He says, moving to rinse his dishes and get out, "I'm going out to meditate." He regards all present with a nod, but then extends an arm to touch Genji's still unmasked cheek. In a rare drop of his rakish and mischievous attitude, the cyborg just closes his eyes and leans into the touch, almost like a cat enjoying very much being pet. Hanzo ends the caress with a pinch that Genji barely even swats at him for, and just like that the older Shimada is out of the room.

Genji keeps on eating, momentarily unaware of all the eyes still on him. He eventually gazes up into Lúcio's completely flabbergasted face, and asks: "What?"

The reaction is instantaneous: "What do you mean 'what?'? _What was that_?!"

"...my brother?" Genji has an inkling as to where this is going, and maybe he's playing a little dumb for the chance to hammer down some long overdue truths on the team.

"He pinched your cheek! He makes jokes! He _smiles_!" Hana lists off her fingers, "who is that and what happened to grumpypants Hanzo?!"

"He got free from the yakuza clan that was _forcing_ him to be that way." The cyborg can't quite keep a certain sharpness off his voice. "You simply have not seen this side of him before because you haven't let him. And he hasn't let himself."

Suddenly, all the occupants of the breakfast table feel mortified. Genji carries on: "In repentance, he has never allowed himself one moment without feeling like the monster who took a blade to his brother, disregarding the extreme environment and pressure that forced him in that position. After he came here, all any of you ever knew about him was what he had done to me, and none of you had any reason to want to know more – _he_ didn't think himself deserving of proving that he is, in fact, more."

Much more, Jesse thinks with a smirk, recalling the seamless cooperation in their training exercise the day before and the way he dutifully indulged his brother's whim for no other reason that Genji wanted. Seems like Hanzo is a gentler soul than he lets on. He has to ask: "What changed?"

Genji returns Jesse's look with a kind smile. "We did some much overdue talking. Smacked our faces into things we were both too hung up to admit needed facing." His look turns mischievous as he fixes a certain look on the other, "You should know, you were spying on us."

"Hey, now. I was jus’ passing by."

"Hmm." Genji makes a show of narrowing his gaze threateningly, before standing up, bringing his dishes to the sink, and then walking away with a gesture of goodbye thrown over his shoulder.

The rest of the table is still reeling over the how and why Hanzo Shimada seems to actually be a physically affectionate person.

 

Jesse had been to Japan before, he has had a taste of the much more deeply rooted concept of familial piety and bonds that's prevalent in their culture –so much so that in many households the children keep on living with their parents even after marriage, to take care of the elderly parents and thus making one _big_ household– so it's not exactly a surprise to him that, once _properly_ reconciled, Hanzo and Genji are thick as thieves.

The only other person not surprised about any of this is Zenyatta— then again, the fact that he had front row seats for Genji’s journey towards healing probably helps in interpreting Hanzo’s journey better than most.

The omnic is immensely proud of his student, and supports the brothers’ reconciliation possibly more than anyone else at the Watchpoint.

It's actually pretty heart-warming while heart-breaking at the same time, making one wonder what could have been, had they not been pitted against one another... but what really surprises the cowboy is the extent of that bond: Hanzo still sometimes looks at Genji for a while and then lower his gaze, like he's not quite worthy of caring for his brother, but aside those fewer and farther in between moments of self-doubt it's like the years they spent apart almost didn't happen. They have old inside jokes, they make up new ones and they have apparently zero secrets, considering how fast Genji got on his case after Jesse started testing the waters with a few well-placed flirts over the comms.

And that's another thing. Jesse is pretty sure Hanzo is no blushing virgin, and yet the younger Shimada was pretty adamant about letting him know exactly how he would get sliced and in how many pieces should he not treat Hanzo _'with respect'_ –ridiculous, right?

Apparently not. It happens lightning fast, a few of them were relaxing during a bit of downtime, talking and drinking; and Jesse doesn't even think as he playfully slaps Genji on the butt –they were making jokes about _ass_ ets and their time in Blackwatch, but the situation does a complete 180° as Hanzo shoves McCree against a wall before Genji can even laugh at his stupid joke, and pins him with a forearm to the throat.

"You will _apologize_ for that."

"Wha—"

" _Anija_ , no, it's okay!"

The cowboy's dwindling air supply and his rusty knowledge don't allow him to clearly follow the rushed exchange in Japanese, but it ends in his favor, apparently, since Hanzo releases him with an almost fully 90° bow.

"I am sorry for my overreaction." He says, not quite meeting Jesse's eyes, "I thought you were disrespecting my brother. He explained that you two are familiar enough to play like this."

McCree doesn't quite know how to compile this. "Uh... sure. No harm done, darlin'." There's some irony there about the man who nearly killed Genji standing here defending his _virtue_ of all things –doubly so considering Genji's quite sordid past antics; but then again they both have agreed to put the whole _‘almost killing each other’_ business behind them, and while the road to redemption is steep nothing prevents the brothers from acting exactly like what they are: two siblings that deeply care about one another and that are only now reunited after being separated for so long.

On second thought, it's only natural that they'd get overprotective with each other.

It does seem awfully specific, and a few nights later Jesse takes the chance to ask directly to Hanzo.

They're on the orca, coming back from a miserably hot and uncomfortable stakeout that ended up with two dead Talon agents and a destroyed cargo –at least Talon didn't get it, right?– and the archer lowers his eyes again.

"I must apologize again for my behaviour the other day." He says in response to Jesse's question of what was up with that, "I worry. I know it wouldn't be my place to anymore had it not been for Genji's forgiveness, it's just..." he pauses, seemingly struggling to find the words, but then he looks back up at McCree and there's steely seriousness in his eyes: "Genji has always been… very beautiful. Even as a child. I've had…” It’s the first time Jesse sees Hanzo hesitate to speak, as he takes a trembling breath to calm the disgust, “I’ve had to keep _men_ from getting their hands on my little brother ever since I was twelve, ever since I was able to understand what those people were after."

...Shit. Seeing the color drain from Jesse's face, Hanzo nods solemnly. "Then Genji grew up, even _more_ beautiful, and oversexed just like any average teenager. At first the elders were furious when he took to sleeping around; then they took us both aside to teach us 'seduction tactics'."

"That doesn't sound good."

Hanzo nods grimly. "It's worse. It was all kinds of uncomfortable and psychologically violating. For a long time, I began to despise any sort of physical intimacy; while Genji, in an effort not to let the elders sully one thing he could freely enjoy, took to sleeping around even more, using the tricks we learned to get anyone hanging off the words on his lips, and would only willingly perform a clan-related task if he could seduce his way to his target.”

“One hell of a coping mechanism.” Jesse doesn’t even want to think about the implications.

The archer seems to agree. Those people were _animals_. And apparently it gets worse:

“The elders took every chance they could to try and make him feel like they were in control of whom he slept with, to try and give the impression they were actually _whoring_ _him out_ ; but my little sparrow refused to let those old, bitter asshats ruin sex for him. Still, there were trying times. And I've had to help him shower away the filthy feeling of _wrongness_ that pervades you after such assignments more times than I care to count."

Yeah, ok, Jesse is already pretty close to Genji, and does love the little shit like an honorary brother, if he had to see the cyborg go through thigs like that he would probably be overly protective too. But it does beg the question. "And Genji feels the need to protect you because your experiences were similar?"

Hanzo's face darkens with recollection, but he shrugs one shoulder. "It wasn't as bad for me. Such assignments were asked of me like a magnanimous favor on my part, and it was never outright suggested to me to actually have intercourse with my targets, should it have seemed useful for success."

"It's still a violation and still horrible."

Hanzo shifts in his seat, favouring his injured side to try and catch a nap before they land.

“We cannot change the past.” He utters softly, a fact he smacked his face against to his great regret, “But we are free from it, at least. And we can focus on making the most of the present, and work for a better future.”

It took months of late night conversations, tense arguments, and occasional relapses into his deep-rooted self-loathing, but tonight Hanzo finally feels like he’s _getting there_.

While proud and happy about the progress, McCree is speechless for an entirely different reason right now: Hanzo is letting himself _sleep_ in his presence.

Shit, maybe Genji is right and he has an _actual_ chance with the archer— it’s rare, almost unheard of, for Hanzo to willingly let himself be vulnerable in the presence of someone who isn’t Genji.

“Forgive me…” is the last thing McCree hears Hanzo say, “Fatigue seems to be catching up to me.”

Jesse lowers the brim of his hat down to hide his shit-eating grin –he might as well have hearts for eyes, right now.

“I’ve got you, darlin’.”

It’s something close to 3 am, and they will probably feel like shit upon landing, but even though the mission was a bust, he’s sore all over and generally feels like shit, Hanzo falls asleep with a smile:

Those of their friends who can’t sleep or were worried enough to wait up for them will likely greet them in the hangar— and he’s not naming any names but a certain cyborg ninja is probably already there, waiting to all but tackle him and physically haul him to the med bay, or to his room, if Hanzo manages to sound disgruntled enough about being too tired for medical check-ups.

He will probably get teased to hell and back for falling asleep side by side with the resident cowboy, but Genji already knows all his dirty little secrets, and that’s essentially what a little brother is for.

Hanzo feels grateful to even have his brother there to make fun of him at all; he almost can’t believe this is finally _their_ life.

Through years, blood, tears and suffering, they’ve at long last ended up in a place where they can be brothers again.

“Hanzo! Wake-up!”

“No.” he mumbles, “Just carry me, instead.”

“ _Anija_!”

Hanzo keeps his eyes closed and tries to conceal a smile –Genji will eventually cave and carry him, like he so often does for the sparrow.

The fact that two grown ass men actually demand to be carried around to places probably says something about how dysfunctional their childhood had been, for them to fill that particular lack so far in adulthood, but neither of them cares.

They’re finally free to act like a _real_ family.

And they wouldn’t have it any other way.

It takes a bit of time, enough to wait until after the few stragglers leave the hangar bay, to minimize the chance of mocking pictures snapped as blackmail material… but Genji _does_ end up carrying Hanzo to his room on his shoulders.

“You will owe me matcha cake for this.”

“Deal.”

 _So_ worth it.


End file.
